I have a moderately sized barn where I provide full care to almost 20 horses. Recently I got in a freshly weaned colt. I've bred and raised my own goals so I wasn't worried. Especially since the owner has done a really good job desensitizing and handling him, and unfortunately he's a little spoiled, at least for my tastes. (He will give me personal space, 2-4 feet, but not as much as I would like, 3-6 feet).

He's coming 6 months old, and he woahs and backs quickly via verbal cues, he is fine with rugs being thrown over him and picks up all of his feet with just a tickle and a cluck. He's not nippy or mouthy.

But the problem I'm having is that when I discipline him, for invading my space or being pushy when I feed, he spins and parks his rear at me. He has never kicked me and only has "kicked near me" when he's out in group turn out and does "zoomies" and laps around the pasture. Sometimes one of his zoomie laps comes by where I'm at and he might do a buck within 15 feet or so of me, but nothing other horses don't do when they do zoomies.

He usually does this facing his rear at me thing when we're in the stall but occasionally he has done it when we walk to the turnouts ( individual & group; there's a rotation).

I talked to his owner and she said to push his hind out of the way (not helpful when I'm facing his tail bone) or swing a rope to get him to move away, again not something I consider safe to do in a stall when standing face to tail bone.

If it were an adult horse I would understand both thoughts on both of her pieces of advice for her foal, but being that foals are smaller, faster and far more nimbler than adult horses, I am scared to swing a rope at a foals end when pinned in a corner by its tail-end.

How do I discipline or "demand" respect from what is basically an ornery 600 lbs teenager, in tight quarters.

She does pay me extra to hand walk him 30 minutes twice a day, where we (I) desensitize with flags all over his body, front & hind leg yielding etc. Sometimes in a round pen, sometimes we walk up and down the driveway, so there is time I can round pen him, and make him move his feet, but he's always fine, and rarely flips his rear to me during those times. It really is just when he gets too close to me in tight spaces.

Teach him to yield his hind quarters while you're out on your daily walks. Then start teaching him that when you go in the stall, he's to stand in a corner facing you. That's where the yielding hind quarters comes in. First I teach that, then I teach standing in a corner until I say it's ok to come out, then I teach facing me from that corner til I say it's ok to come out. Once you have him yielding his hind quarters to a look from you, he's ready to teach the corner progression.

You mention that he's disrespectful of your space because he only gives you "2 to 4 feet when I want 3-6 feet". #1, he is giving you your space within the parameters you have set, 4 feet is smack in the middle, so either work on him being consistantly 4 feet out, and accept that or go for the full 6 feet by working on getting him to stand quietly a little further from you each day. With foals, proximity is security, he wants to be safe and sees you as his safe haven. He needs to build confidence to get a little further away from you and that will take time.

Lol, I'd beat his butt. Lily turns her butt to me I give her a swift, quick pop on her fanny. Sometimes you just need a little "come to Jesus" meeting and get it over with in one fell swoop of butt-kicking, haha.

Clinton Anderson. Yes. He even has foal training dvds. They are wonderful!

If the baby did that to me he would be spinning his butt in a circle for another fifteen minutes until he learned that putting his hindquarters to me only meant that he was going to get his ass smacked.

She does pay me extra to hand walk him 30 minutes twice a day, where we (I) desensitize with flags all over his body, front & hind leg yielding etc. Sometimes in a round pen, sometimes we walk up and down the driveway, so there is time I can round pen him, and make him move his feet, but he's always fine, and rarely flips his rear to me during those times. It really is just when he gets too close to me in tight spaces.

Thank you advice givers!

My advice - let the poor thing alone! As long as he has basic manners - allow him to be a baby. A 10-15 minute handling session a couple of times a week is all they NEED at this age!

Yes, 2 30 minute sessions are VERY long for the attention span of a weanling. My girl only gets worked 10 minutes and is completely saturated by the end. And even if you are fitting the horse for show, long trotting for 5 minutes a day is more than enough.

I agree with those that say an intensive half hour training session is likely(think it depends how it's done tho) too much for him, and I definitely wouldn't be 'round penning' a baby much at all, BUT OP has said 30 minute hand walking, not intensive training. She's said she's done things like desensitising, but not that she does it incessantly. I wouldn't want to restrict a horse, especially a youngster, to a barn full time, but if it had to happen, 2 30 min walks daily would be the bare minimum I'd want for it.

OP, it sounds like the horse is actually quite respectful of you. Perhaps his owner's never taught him not to turn away, or perhaps he's doing it defensively because he's unsure what you want. I agree that I wouldn't try to change his behaviour there & then with 'disciplinary' measures if you're in a tight spot within kicking range. Instead I'd work more on teaching him to yield his hindquarters & such when you're out & about with him.

I'm sorry but that is something that is eventually going to get you hurt pretty bad so he needs some stern discipline.

I once had an adult, 15H, gelding try something similar but he only did his crowing at feeding time. His third attempt was his last one because I was ready for him with a 1 X 2 board that my 5'2" white female self roundhoused with everything in me, connected to the fat of his hindend and broke the 1 x 2 across his butt.

I hadn't realized the board was on the rotted side or it would have never broke; I almost went around twice because of that

It turned out to be a double lesson as my 12 yr old son witnessed all that. Wide-eyed at the feat his mom had just performed, he said "wowww mommm! You broke that board over Dazzle's butt!!"

I whirled around and said "Let that be a lesson to you"

I couldn't have that horse playing those games because my son was at the barn as much as I was, so discipline had to be hard and fast.

That was the last time that otherwise well-mannered horse ever tried to crowd.

Point-being, I would wail the hind end of that colt one time, really hard, adding a big resounding "NO!". You can't hurt him near as much as another horse would.

If he's not gelded yet, that might be a good reason for his butt-turning antics. He may be ready to have some of his family jewels removed

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